John Kerry pronounced داعش و أحرار as dash and areare. Does he not have any advisors who are at least familiar with the Arabic alphabet? Whatever, Murica!

More worrying than Kerry's ignorance of or unwillingness to learn Arabic pronunciations, lumping Ahrar in with IS, Hamas, and Boko Haram is probably foreshadowing. Ahrar and Tawhid are already designated by the UAE and I imagine a US designation of Ahrar is coming.

If you want a wonky theory for "fixing" the ME, I believe that a massive effort to teach English would be hugely beneficial. Look at King Abdullah, dude hardly speaks Arabic and Jordan is much better off than most Arab countries right now.

If you want a wonky theory for "fixing" the ME, I believe that a massive effort to teach English would be hugely beneficial. Look at King Abdullah, dude hardly speaks Arabic and Jordan is much better off than most Arab countries right now.